2022 Annual General Meeting

24 Mar 2022 - 16:15 CET

All proposals by the Board of Directors approved
21st consecutive dividend increase representing a 3.1% increase year-on-year
Election of Tom Knutzen as new member of the Board of Directors
Re-election of all other Board members, including the re-election of Calvin Grieder as Chairman

The Annual General Meeting of Givaudan SA took place on 24 March 2022, and in view of the continuing uncertainty around COVID-19, the meeting was limited to the statutory meeting with minimum required attendance by its representatives. Shareholders provided their voting instructions to the independent voting rights representatives in writing or through a secured online platform. In lieu of the traditional meeting, Givaudan once again donated the sum of CHF 200,000 to the Givaudan Foundation to support a number of worthwhile projects in our communities.

“It is with much disappointment that once again we could not host an in-person Annual General Meeting due to the continuing pandemic situation and associated health risks to our shareholders and to our employees. We continued to respond with agility to the ongoing impact of the global pandemic, turning challenges into opportunities. I'd like to thank our colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers for their great collaboration and commitment for all that we achieved. I’d also like to thank our shareholders for their continued commitment to, and interest in, Givaudan.”

Calvin Grieder, Chairman of the Board of the Directors

The Annual General Meeting approved the 2021 Management Report, the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statement with 99.44% of votes and discharged the members of the Board of Directors with 98.80% of votes.

With 90.97% of votes, it also approved the Company’s compensation report on a consultative basis.

The Annual General Meeting approved a distribution to the shareholders of CHF 66.00 gross per share. This is the twenty-first consecutive dividend increase following Givaudan’s listing at the Swiss stock exchange in 2000. The amount will be paid out of available earnings as an ordinary dividend, taxable in Switzerland, on 30 March 2022.

Tom Knutzen was elected as new Board member for a term of one year ending after completion of the next ordinary Annual General Meeting of shareholders. All other current members of the Board of Directors were re-elected, each for a term of one year until the next Annual General Meeting in 2023, in accordance with the legal requirements and Givaudan’s Articles of Incorporation. This includes Mr Michael Carlos and Prof. Dr-Ing. Werner Bauer, who were presented for re-election exceptionally although they had exceeded the age limitation of 70 years at the time of the Annual General Meeting 2022, to ensure continuity of the Board of Directors during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

Victor Balli*
Prof. Dr-Ing. Werner Bauer*
Lilian Biner
Michael Carlos
Ingrid Deltenre*
Olivier Filliol
Sophie Gasperment
Calvin Grieder (also re-elected as Chairman)

* Also re-elected to the Compensation Committee for a term of one year.

Mr Manuel Isler, attorney-at-law, was re-elected as independent shareholder representative until the next Annual General Meeting in 2023 and Deloitte SA was re-elected as auditors for the financial year 2022 with Ms. Karine Szegedi Pingoud as lead auditor, partner.

Finally, the Annual General Meeting approved the remuneration for the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. In particular, it approved:

maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Board of Directors for the term until the 2023 Annual General Meeting of CHF 3,500,000, by 98.67% of the votes,
aggregate amount of short term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2021 of CHF 5,461,355 by 97.41% of the votes and
maximum aggregate amount of fixed and long-term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2022 of CHF 15,400,000, by 91.86% of the votes.

For further information please contact
Pierre Bénaich, Head of Investor and Media Relations
T +41 22 780 9053
E pierre.benaich@givaudan.com